I do not agree with the statement that men make better leaders than women. However, it is also debatable whether women make better leaders since men and women have different leadership styles. Hence, the argument is essentially about who has a better leadership style, men or women. According to Pounder and Coleman (2002), women have a transformational style of leadership while men have a transactional style. Transformational style is characterized as being nurturing, inspirational, and motivational, while transactional style is based on rewards for the desired performance.
Historically, the male leadership style has been considered more desirable. But it can also be argued that in modern times Transformational leadership style is more effective in producing desired results. However, Vroom-Yetton Leadership Model suggests five different leadership styles depending on the situation. Hence it cannot be conclusively said that one particular leadership style is better than the other.
It can also be argued that when the people being led are mature such as employees at the higher levels of an organization, the transformational style is more productive and when the workforce comes from the lower levels and are immature then the transactional style of leadership is better suited. This could be true because many men would not like to be led by a female boss and might resist taking orders from a woman. But the fact that women are being increasingly accepted all over the world as political leaders could undermine this argument. Still, since our discussion is about women in a corporate setting and not the political world, we cannot ignore the fact that many men may not like taking orders from a woman boss.
However, the discussion here is not about whether women are accepted as leaders are not. It is about whether men or women make better leaders. For centuries, men have not been challenged in their position as the boss. But increasingly, more and more women are entering the corporate world and this is challenging the traditionally male domain of leadership, leading to the current debate.
With more and more women getting appointed as CEOs, the idea that women may be better leaders is fast-moving from feminist literature to mainstream publication. Hence the idea cannot be just dismissed and must be explored further (Eagly and Carli, 2003). Eagly & Carli have further researched the available evidence to find out if it is true that women make better leaders. One important observation they make is that women who rise to the top of the corporate world do so despite all the prejudice against them and this might be proof of their superior leadership abilities.
Eagly and Carli are of the view that women may be proving to be better leaders because of a number of changes in recent years that may have tilted the balance in the favor of women. These changes include a change in the psychological attributes of women, change in leadership roles, change in organizational practices, and change in culture.
However, Vecchio (2002) is of the view that it cannot be conclusively established whether one or the other gender makes a better leader. I too agree with this conclusion since although some leadership styles are more feminine and others more masculine, a successful leader of either gender uses a leadership style that changes according to the situation. It cannot even be proved conclusively that a particular leadership style is better than the other. Hence, it cannot be concluded with any degree of certainty that men make better leaders than women or vice versa.
References
Eagly, A.H. & Carli, L.L. 2003, ‘The female leadership advantage: An evaluation of the evidence’, The Leadership Quarterly, vol. 14, iss. 6, pp. 807-834. Web.
Vecchio, R.P. 2002, ‘Leadership and Gender Advantage’, The Leadership Advantage, vol.13, iss. 6, pp. 643-671. Web.
Pounder, J.S. & Coleman, M. 2002, ‘Women- better leaders than men? In general and educational management it still “all depends”’, Leadership and Organizational Development Journal, vol. 23, iss. 3, pp. 122-133. Web.